


Abraham's Daughter

by crack_the_shutters



Series: Empty Chairs at Empty Tables [1]
Category: Metal Gear, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Boss is clueless and also one track minded, F/F, Mentions of Character Death, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:18:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crack_the_shutters/pseuds/crack_the_shutters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part One of Three set in ECET’s verse, this part (Abraham’s Daughter) will follow Doctor Strangelove, an AI researcher and creator who fell in love with The Boss years ago, just before her death.  She finds out that not all is as it seems and quickly things take a turn for the overwhelming and destructive. (Loosely follows the Avengers movie, to a point)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Abraham's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> This will be an ongoing piece, until it’s able to be joined together for the larger, overall plot that will reign in the Empty Chairs at Empty Tables-verse. 
> 
> Pieces to the story as of this moment are "Abraham's Daughter" and "Shake It Out". The third part will be coming soon, and be called "Solider Side".
> 
> Please keep in mind that this is AU, so there's going to be plenty of things changed around and added and taken away--I....maaaay have gone a little wild with what I have planned and there's much more MGS changed at first, but the Avengers aspect will follow suit quickly :3
> 
> I'll write up a more succinct summary of the AU-verse itself [Empty Chairs at Empty Tables] so that things might make more sense, unless you prefer to be surprised, in which case you needn't look when I get it posted xD

_**1961, April 21** _

_**Launch Day for Project Mercury** _

 

Strangelove could not stop the frown that marred her face as she watched the proceedings on the launch pad, though now at least it was borne of a far different concern than it had been in weeks previous.  

Light violet eyes scoured the print outs before anyone else had the chance to look them over, not caring that her higher ups were giving her odd looks.  That was nothing new.  She had a job to do, one that over the last months had taken an extremely personal turn for her, not that she had made that obvious, or so she thought.

“It’ll be alright.”  Huey Emmerich rolled up behind her, a brow lofted nearly into the mess of dark hair that was in a perpetual state of disarray.  “She can handle anything that comes up.”

“Not if that window seal doesn’t hold.”  The pale woman hissed quietly before biting her lip a moment.  “You know as well as I do that the chances of it failing are astronomical.  She might be The Boss, but the woman is not invincible against the heat of re-entry.”

“Provided it even gets off the ground.”  He replied musingly.

“...That isn’t helping.”  She groaned softly before falling into her seat, dropping into thought.  “It’d be even worse at that point, full canisters of fuel--”  Her staying in the chair didn’t last long as she jumped up, slapping the papers into Huey’s lap.  “Watch the data streams from in here and keep me appraised, will you please?”

“Where are you going?”  The smack of papers barely made him jump, he was used to the rough way Strangelove conducted herself.  

“Outside.”  

He watched as she strode out, the long red trenchcoat drawn tightly about her as she pulled a long brimmed hat over her head as well.  He had to wonder if her...limitations...were why they so very rarely got along, each of them reminding the other of their limited abilities despite their great intelligence.  

As the door slammed shut, he belatedly realized the moment he had stuck a foot in his mouth.

 

\----------

 

_**Present Day** _

_**2013; April 21** _

_**52 years later** _

  
  


Another long succession of shot glasses lined the table before the older woman.  Tired, hazy amethyst eyes were half lowered as she reached for the bottle in front of her, only to make a whining noise when it was snatched away and held out of her reach.

“Are you going to sulk in here for yet another year?”  A familiar voice spoke up just next to her, causing a low, rich curse to call from her lips as she looked up.

“It’s one day a year, I’m entitled.”

“One day for this time, another day for her actual death, and both take a week of recovery after and a week of dealing with you being a bear beforehand.”

“Again, I’m entitled.”

“She never knew.”

“I never had the chance to tell her.”  Came the quick, fierce retort, nearly a growl as she lashed out and grabbed the bottle back, holding it close to her bosom.  “I hadn’t thought I would tell her until today, and then they took her away from me, I couldn’t even find her in the datafiles, the only updates I ever got were hardly anything useful.”

“Still, my point stands.”  Eva sat down across from Strangelove, the bigger woman easily plucking the bottle of vodka away from her again and taking a swig before handing it back, eyeing the number of glasses around the table  “You going for a record this year?”

“Every year.”  A half smile curled the pale lips as Strangelove watched Eva drunkenly.  “You know me, have to find some way to numb it all.  Lost her, lost Huey, lost everyone that ever really mattered or might have...”  Her head shook slowly, clearly a bad move that was only realized after she stopped and reached up to hold a hand over her mouth.

“Aw, come now, you haven’t lost everyone, I’m still around.”  Eva leaned back, watching her.  “I might not be Boss but I worked with her too, losing her hurt a lot of people.”  She frowned a bit as she reached for the bottle again, getting no fight from Strangelove, who seemed to be regretting the last shot she’d had.

“I see you what, twice a year?  Maybe?”  Strangelove had to swallow hard to keep her drinks from making a glorious reappearance.

“Technically I shouldn’t even show up then, but I figure ‘what the hell?’.”  Eva tipped the bottle back, knocking down a good fifth before pulling it away and wiping her mouth, “We’re still too closely watched, though there’s a few times a year I can get away with fucking with the security teams and tapes and all.  For all his asshole moves these days, Zero still mourns many of the same days we do.”  There was a slight shrug at that.  Eva was still fairly angry with Zero for all he’d done, but if ever there was something to unite them regardless, it was a love for The Boss.  

A low hmm was all Strangelove could manage in answer then.  To her, Zero could go to Hell for all she cared, she counted him just as guilty as the rest of the for what had happened to the woman she loved.  Mentally she cringed at that as she usually did.  It sounded so...creepy, stalker-like.  

“I also came to tell you something.”  Eva could see the small perk up at that, “I’ve been keeping an eye on one of our rival cells, SHIELD, you’ve heard of them, right?”

“Tried to contract me once, wouldn’t take it though.”

“Probably should have, they get better contracts than anyone else does.”

Strangelove shrugged again, “Whatever, it’s old news, they probably think I’ve died by now.”  If only, she wished quietly to herself.

“They have someone that might interest you.”

Her head canted at that, a fall of wild silver hair obscuring part of her face.  “There’s only two people that would interest me enough to even consider talking to Fury again.”

“It’s one of them.”

“You’re lying.”  She sat up then, looking highly indignant.  “There’s no way it’s possible, not unless they mastered cryogenics or cloning, and as close as the scientific community has gotten to it, we haven’t cloned any humans, and if you have any belief in religion, it wouldn’t be either of them anyway, they’d either lack a soul or have the wrong one.”

“I have it on good authority.  I have, ah, well, I usually don’t give away this much, but I like you and I know you could use the good news, even if it seems wild.  I have a contact within SHIELD, the daughter of an old friend of mine, she’s solid, never led me wrong before.”  She reached into her shirt, pulling a picture from the side of her bra to slide it across the table.

The skeptical look didn’t leave Strangelove’s face as she stared pointedly at Eva.  “It can’t be.”  She refused to budge, not even a bit, she wouldn’t look down at all.  Whatever was in that picture was not what Eva thought and not what she wanted, it was impossible.

“Don’t knock it until you look.  I thought it too...thought she was fucking with me, but I--one look and you just...know.  No one else holds themself that way.”  

Strangelove looked unmoved, no matter what Eva said.  “I’m still trying to get hold of John and Ocelot--They need to know too, but they have shit reception where they are.”  Eva got up at that, reaching into her shirt again, setting out a small stack of other pictures before she turned, giving Strangelove one last look over her shoulder.  “Don’t forget, you’ve seen how strong a soldier of that caliber is--Don’t write it off before seeing for yourself.”

She managed a slight smile at the younger woman before walking off.  “Don’t make me have to come take you home in an hour, I’m already cutting it close to get back.”

Strangelove’s cheeks puffed out at the insinuation that she wouldn’t be able to get home on her own  Home wasn’t that far away anyway, she could easily get there, even if she had to crawl the last few yards, or fall asleep in the yard and wake up with a sunburn again.

Eva waved at her, heading out into the night once again, leaving the other woman sitting in her corner and trying to pointedly not be curious about the pictures that had been left there.

Despite her protesting stomach, she took another drink off the vodka for added fortification.

 

\---------

 

_**1961; April 21** _

_**Ten minutes after liftoff** _

 

_Maybe I was wrong..._ Strangelove stared at the contrail that followed the shuttle out of the lower atmosphere, her shoulders sagging in obvious relief.  There was still re-entry but, the window had held up under the exit, her calculations showed that the risk of failure were significantly lower if it could hold up under that pressure.

Huey had given her the thumbs up on their datasets coming in so she felt comfortable leaving things in his hands now as she made her way down to the chopper that would carry them just offshore where they predicted Boss would come back down, since this was not an orbital flight, coming back down within a few miles of the launch site was predictable as far as they were concerned.

The ride out there was far from silent.  She had a direct patched in feed to Boss, the two women talking about the readings that Boss was getting as well as the view she had.

_You’d love it up here._  Her voice was dreamy, clearly mystified.   _It...changes the way you look at things.  There’s no, well--nevermind, I should get you the heat readings, hang on--_

“No, say it.”  Strangelove urged her as she watched their approach to the aircraft carrier.  “I’d love to hear what you mean.  The readings can wait.”  The man riding with her gave her a reproachful look at that but she pointedly ignored it.

_There’s no lines up here._  The smile was evident in Boss’ voice, _There’s no nations, no countries, no cities, states...It’s just green and blue, you can see the larger mountain ranges, they’re all in the most beautiful shades of grey and white and brown._

She let out a sigh, _It could really make you think...you know...about how odd it is that everything’s so divided on the ground but look so free from here.  You can’t see wars, you can’t see the pain, the torment, the rights and wrongs...everything just...is._

Strangelove found herself without a voice to comment with, the wistful quality to Boss’ had her completely captivated, lost in the thoughts alongside her.  

_I almost don’t want to come back, to be honest._  There was a laugh at that, _I know I have to though, but, maybe I can change things when I get back.  There’s too much that I could do that I hadn’t even thought of before.  Hang on--_

The introduction of fear to the tone Boss’ voice took made the younger woman frown, “What is it?”

_\--shit, shit, something’s happening, I can’t tell where it’s coming from--!_

Her blood ran as ice at that, “What do you mean?  What is it?” _Please don’t be the window, for the love of God don’t be the window--_

_It’s the window._  Boss’ voice took a sharp turn toward terrified, though a weaving of bravado came through, _Shit, I can’t insulate against it--I’m coming in hot, I can’t see where though, I can’t get to the controls.  I’ll try to pack as much as I can around the break and--_

A scream rang out, high and loud as the window shattered and everyone looked up in time to see the capsule coming back down a good mile away from where they had predicted.  Strangelove wasted no time in ordering the pilot to where she now figured it would land, the sound of static and labored breathing making her panic even if she was trying hard not to show it.

The commander behind her ordered her to stay in her seat, to get down and to let the carrier and the trained men handle what was happening, but she knew that there was no way that they would reach her in time.  

Throwing both caution and sense to the wind, she tossed the headphones off and dove out of the low-flying chopper, straight into the already too hot water.  She hadn’t swam a day in her life before, but she stroke out as hard as she could, realizing almost too late that Boss hadn’t stayed in the capsule at all, but had been flung out and amid the worst of the burning wreckage.

_No!  No no, no nonononono!_  She screamed, though she couldn’t tell if it was vocal or not.  The suit that the other had on had already burned away, parts of it sticking to her skin where it hadn’t any other choice but to, her body clearly an angry, hot red as the flames raged around her.  It was all the impetus the young woman needed to get her ass in gear and to get to her before she burned to death.  

The fact that more than likely she had died on impact did not and would not cross her mind.

The last few strokes were the hardest, but with a surge of adrenaline, Strangelove managed to throw herself over Boss’ prone body, smothering the flames as best she could even as they threatened to take her instead.

_Let them.  Let them take me, just let her live..._  She cried out.  The older woman had so much more to do still, everything to live for, she was far more important than herself, she’d gladly give her life to make sure that she could see her infant of a dream come to fruition.

Boss was the One.  She knew this, had known it for months.

If anything in the sorry, pathetic excuse of a world they were in could be changed, the woman underneath her would be the one to make it happen.

She wasn’t aware of how long it took the rescue crews to get to them; hours, days, minutes?  It all ran together to her, a fire and sun ravaged hand running over the singed blonde hair, sweet, soothing words being murmured to combat the angry crackling of the fire around them.  Strangelove had no idea still if she had even survived, though her mind railed at her that of course she had.  

No matter what she had snapped at Huey earlier, of course this woman was invincible.  She was immortal, a Goddess, a light in the darkness that none of them deserved but would follow and worship regardless.

Carefully they were lifted up after the flames were extinguished, pulled apart and vaguely roused from unconsciousness when the first real feelings of pain started to sink in.  Neither missed the look the other gave them though, both terrified, both in pain,both grateful for the other, and likely in ways that neither would ever understand until it was too late.

The last image she had of Boss from that day was seeing her carried off, the half of her that she had covered with herself was still burned, but with first, maybe second degree burns at the worst.  She could see the edges of where the superheated metal and polymers from her suit had ravaged her though.  She had failed in a way, though she already knew Boss would tell her that she had done what she could.

The barest of hopefully reassuring smiles parted her cracked lips as she watched them carry Boss off first.  She’d see her soon, she knew it, and she’d tell her everything she wanted and needed to--Even if she was rejected, having it said would make it all worthwhile.

 

\--------

 

_**2013; April 21** _

_**Several shots later** _

__

_But I never did see her again.  And just a few years later, she was dead._

The pictures on the table were mocking her now.

Eva was playing a cruel trick on her, or else someone had played one on Eva.  She had trusted her for years now though, the older woman had taken over as a sort of den mother for all those that had any association with The Boss or Big Boss.  She just couldn’t find it in her to trust her this time.

Or, could she?

She let out a sound of disgust as her traitorous mind began to wonder about the photos.

Maybe they weren’t a lie.

Maybe they really were her.

Just as easily, she knew, it could be Huey that Eva meant, but she knew better than that.  There was no way the woman would come all the way out to see her for Huey.  Boss was the tie that bound them together.

Slowly, violet eyes slid to look down at the first photo, her breath catching as she stared at it.

_It was her._

She saw immediately what Eva meant by not being mistaken.  That fire in those blue eyes was impossible to mistake for anyone else.  

Boss was staring at someone just off frame, glaring more like really, dressed down in a tight fitting black catsuit, her hair piled up messily on her head and clearly much longer than it had been when she had last seen her.  Her arms were crossed over her chest, the action incidentally plumping her breasts up against an already straining zipper.  She couldn’t help the choked laugh at that thought.  The men at NASA had always thought Boss had dressed the way she had to be provocative, when in reality, the woman had revealed to her that it actually made it easier to distract most people and do what she needed to do.

She reached for the photos, pulling them to her and carding through them slowly, a smile curling her lips in genuine earnest as she saw her in motion, a couple of the pictures of her working out in a SHIELD gym, another a picture of her just before she woke up, and the last one looked like it must have been taken well away from anyone else, if her previous hard, uncaring looks were anything to go by.

She was smiling, the tense worry lines lessened by the softer look.  Her hair was down, reaching well past the frame of the photo and she looked to have on casual clothes, a rarity, Strangelove knew.

She lived again.  

Somehow.

Already, her mind worked over how it could be possible, unless John had been mistaken all those years ago, but she didn’t think that could be it at all.

Her chest tightened as she realized she needed to see her soon, or talk to her, or--

She let out a groan.  Of course she couldn’t have that.

Eva was right, they still had enemies, and if they knew that Boss lived, then they’d just hunt her down again and Strangelove was having none of that.

She’d find a way to communicate with her, but for now, her main concern was getting home before she passed out in the bar.

She never noticed the shadowed figure that followed her on her way home.

Eva smiled lightly in the darkness, watching to be sure the woman made it home unaccosted and safely.  

Knowing their Light in the Darkness was alive and well again, she knew they all would have a renewed vigor to their actions.


End file.
